Monday, December 12, 2011

Do Nothing Campout

This weekend was our Troop's famed Do Nothing Campout. There is nothing scheduled on this campout. It's a time when the boys literally "do nothing." In reality this means that the chefs for each patrol get a chance to shine and try their hands at some great cooking. We generally get a cabin with a stove for this campout - so they can really stretch their cooking skills.

Homemade Chicken Dumpling Soup for lunch. One chef said "This is the best campout ever" - won't his Mom and Dad be thrilled to hear how much he loves to cook?

All-in-one burrito for dinner. The younger Scouts did a fantastic job.

The older Scouts planned a more sophisticated menu: London broil with roast potatoes, mushrooms and salad for dinner. Mmmmmm.

For dessert they made homemade Chocolate Mousse (yes, we brought the Kitchen-Aid mixer on a campout!). Wait! Are those finger swipes in the chocolate mousse? Boys!!!!

It was a huge hit. It was challenging to get the boys to understand just how rich chocolate mousse is. Most of them took double helpings, one even took a quadruple helping and wouldn't be told otherwise. Guess who didn't feel so good later?

But the best part about chocolate mousse is what I've told the boys for years.

Me: "If you can learn to make chocolate mousse, you can date any girl you want."

Scout: "Ms. Jackson, Is that true?"

Me: "She'll go out on a first date, just out of curiosity to see if you can really make chocolate mousse from scratch. The second date is entirely up to you."

So now the older Scouts are set for the dating life. Oh, and the chocolate mousse was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!